DOJ charges ICE officer who shot immigrant in Minnesota with lying to investigators

Washington — Federal prosecutors have charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota with making false statements to investigators about the incident, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News.

The officer, Christian Castro, was charged in May by local prosecutors, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has refused to extradite him, prompting a legal battle. He was released from a Texas jail last week.

Castro was taken into federal custody Thursday night in Texas, a federal law enforcement source told CBS News.

A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment Wednesday, but the case has not yet been unsealed, the sources said. The Associated Press first reported Castro had been charged by federal prosecutors.

The shooting at the center of the case occurred during the Trump administration’s federal immigration surge in Minnesota, just a week after agents killed Renee Good.

In January, two men, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, were hit with federal charges of forcibly assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers. Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, had been shot by an ICE agent in the leg.

Accounts of the interaction that led to the shooting shifted in the immediate aftermath. The Department of Homeland Security initially said Sosa-Celis fled a traffic stop, crashed the vehicle and fled on foot. DHS said two men emerged from a nearby apartment and attacked the agent with a broom handle and snow shovel. Sosa-Celis allegedly broke free and also started striking the officer, DHS said, adding that an officer then fired a “defensive shot to defend his life.”

But an FBI affidavit filed to support the charges against the two men said Aljorna was the one who fled, and that Sosa-Celis initially struck Castro with a broomstick while the agent tried to arrest Aljorna. And cellphone video shared by a Democratic state lawmaker showed a woman telling 911 that her husband was chased by ICE agents before he reached his home, and was shot in front of his family.

The charges against Aljorna and Sosa-Celis soon unraveled. Federal prosecutors dropped the case in February, citing “newly discovered evidence” that was “materially inconsistent” with the allegations against them. The charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they could not be reintroduced. 

Todd Lyons, then the acting head of ICE, said that video evidence contradicted statements made under oath by Castro and a second officer. Both were placed on leave. Castro has since been suspended without pay.

“Video evidence has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements,” Lyons said at the time. “Both officers have been immediately placed on administrative leave pending the completion of a thorough internal investigation. Lying under oath is a serious federal offense.”